Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (Part 2)

For the long breath, the deep breath, the breath of a heart without care, I will give thanks and adore thee, God of the open air. Henry Van Dyck. This is The Bright Forever.

The Bright Forever

Hello, and welcome to The Bright Forever. My name is Andy Peavyhouse, and I am your host as we discover the richness of some of the greatest hymns of the church. Now, if you were with us last week, we were in Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. Now, I found way too much information to be able to pack it all in to one episode. And so we decided to split Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee into two episodes, a part one and a part two. So this week is the conclusion of Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. Last week, we talked about the composer and the author, Beethoven, who wrote the music in 1824, and Henry Van Dyck, who wrote the lyrics in 1907. And sometimes I just find that so amazing, that one of the best and most well-loved hymns of the church, the two parts of it that make it such an amazing song, were written over 80 years apart from each other. Over 80 years between when the music was written and when the words were put to it. And it's just amazing to think that a song like that has stood the test of time. So let's look at this hymn and go verse by verse. It says, It's a call to worship. It's a call saying we're worshipers. We've been made to worship. There should be a joy in our worship. Why? Because he's the God of glory. He is the Lord of love. And our hearts should open up like flowers opening to the sun. Our hearts should open to God saying you are our creator. You are the God of glory. You are the Lord of love. There is this joy that melts away our sin and in turn our sadness. This joy drives the dark of doubt away because God is the giver of never-ending gladness. Just ask him and he'll fill you up with it. And then Van Dyke goes on to the second verse. Now, the second verse is even more amazing. You see, what the second verse does, it now says, okay, you're worshipers. You're made to worship. Why are we worshiping this God? What's so great about him? Let's talk about this. Let's talk about this creation. And it goes into and says, all thy works with joy surround thee. I love that line. I love that line. Center of unbroken praise. There has never been a time in recorded history from the moment time began to the moment that time will cease to exist. There has never and will never be a moment where the praise of God from his creation ceases. It's unbroken. All of his works surround him. Earth and heaven reflect his rays. The stars and angels, they sing around him because he, he is the center of their unbroken praise. Who is this? Who is this he that we're talking about? Colossians 1, 15 to 20 says this. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Jesus is the center. of that unbroken praise. Then the song brings the praise down to earth. It comes down to us and it says, What does it do? It calls us. Creation calls us to rejoice in who he is. We are being called to join in the rejoicing. It reminds me of a song by a guy named Chris Rice that I had forgotten about until I started looking at this hymn. It's a song called And Your Praise Goes On. And it begins like this. The moon is high and the sunset fades. The lullabies have all been sung. We're tucking in another day. And stars appear now one by one. But the stillness moves and the silence yields. And not a single beat is lost. You can hear the chorus in the fields taking up where we left off. And your praise goes on. rising to your throne, where you guard us while we dream. Past the stars they fly, your praises fill the sky, till you wake us with the dawn, and your praise goes on. Now bring your warmth, O morning sun, chase the stars and the moon away, and wake us with your brightest song, and add our voice to your refrain. Now rise up everything that lives. Flap your wings and leap for joy. Oh, forest, lift your arms and sway. Clap your hands, you ocean waves. And your praise goes on. Rising to your throne, where you bless our toil and play. Through the clouds they rise. Your praises fill the skies till the setting of the sun. And your praise goes on. And when my final breath you lend, I'll thank you for the life you gave. But that won't mean the praises end, because I won't be silenced by the grave. And your praise goes on. I'll be running to your throne with every nation, tribe, and tongue. And your praise goes on. We are being called by creation itself. To join in on the praise that's been happening since God spoke creation into existence. That's amazing. So why should we join in? Well, guess what? Henry Van Dyke tells us in verse 3. Thou art giving and forgiving, ever-blessing, ever-blessed, wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest. Thou our Father, Christ our brother, all who live in love are thine. Teach us how to love each other. Lift us to the joy divine. He's saying, why are we called to praise? Well, we're worshipers. That was verse 1. We're called to worship. Creation is calling us to worship, to join the praise that is unbroken. Why? Because of who God is. Because he's forgiving. Because he's giving. Because he blesses and he is forever our blessed redeemer. He is our father who art in heaven. He is Christ, our brother and our friend and our intercessor. In 1 John 4, 7, and 8, we hear these words, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God, because God is love. And all who live in love are thine. It reminds me of God telling us when Jesus told the parable of the vine, he says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Abide in me. When we abide in God who is love, all who live in love are his. When we abide in him, it's just a beautiful picture. Teach us how to love each other. Lift us to the joy divine. Then it culminates in the final verse. We've been called worshipers. We've been called to worship. We've been given our reason for our worship, which is God and his son Jesus and his amazing love for us. Now it's time to join in. Mortals join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began. Father love is reigning o'er us. Brother love binds man to man. Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife. Joyful music leads us sunward in the triumph song of life. One of the things I find most most interesting about this particular song actually comes from his son, Tertius van Dyck. In the book he wrote, Henry van Dyck, a biography that was published in 1935. In writing about this particular hymn and his father, he explains to us so perfectly who his father was. He says, My father's hymn, Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, written to the music of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, is a vital and happy expression of the cheerful note that is the heart of the Christian religion. It begins as Christianity itself began, in a whole-souled and hearty yes to life as Jesus lived it in God. It is the natural piano that leaps to the lips of a man who receives life at God's hands and purposes to live that life in Christ's law of liberty. It would be a pity to attempt to analyze this hymn, and I do not intend to commit that particular error. I may, however, permit myself to make one observation on this hymn. with a view of aiding us in the appreciation of its message. It is this, that the hymn celebrates a joy to be found in nature by the man who finds his first joy in living his life in Jesus Christ. Anyone who is familiar with my father's poetry and preaching will at once recognize that the harmony of this double note is his most characteristic accent. How often he declares that Christianity is an out-of-doors religion. How steadily he stresses the joyfulness of a life that rests upon Christ. If a man is a Christian, in the simple sense of personal faith and activity. Let him step out into the open air and rejoice. And then he quotes his own dad from a poem called God of the Open Air. He says this, For the long breath, the deep breath, the breath of a heart without care, I will give thanks and adore thee. God of the open air. I think that sums up who Henry Van Dyke was and what this hymn is all about. There is a joy to be had in a life lived for Christ. There's a joy to be found in stepping out and seeing God's creation all around us. With eyes to see and ears to hear, we stand in awe Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. I realize it was tough. It was a two-parter, but I thank you so much for listening to both part one and part two. Take a moment, make sure to follow us on either Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, any of the myriad of sites that you can find us on. You can also find us at just kind of some background on what we talk about. I would love for you to go there. Go to our website, www.thebrightforever.com again. Also, again, let us know what you think. You can either send us your comments at podcast at thebrightforever.com. Again, that's podcast at thebrightforever.com. Or you can go to www.thebrightforever.com and go to the contact us section and fill out the contact form on there and let us know. We want to hear from you. Again, thank you for joining me. Thank you for listening. I hope you will continue just doing enjoying this as much as I am enjoying this. And let me leave you with this prayer. Father, thank you so much for this time. Thank you for the joy that we have in what you have done for us, in the fact that we are part of the unbroken praise of your creation. God, we love you. We praise you. We pray for an amazing week. Bring us back next week safely. Help us to hear a word from you this week as we do our own study, as we listen, as we praise, and as we worship together. God, we love you. We give you all the honor and all the glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Have a great week, and we'll see you back here next week with some special guests. We're out.

Thank you.